Come ye! Come ye! Piper Vaughn talks writing and her stories!

Aaaaand today we are back with an author interview! Author Piper Vaughn has graciously agreed to do an interview and talk about herself and her writing and of course about upcoming books. Take a seat, grab some tea and cookies and give a warm welcome to Piper!

______________________

Piper and welcome to BookWinked. We’re excited to see you. Can you introduce yourself and tell how you came to be an author?– Hi! Thanks for having me! My name is Piper Vaughn and I’ve been published since late 2011. I’ve been writing since I was a little kid and eventually, back in the early 2000s, I started posting fanfiction online. Did that for a couple of years and then didn’t write for several after that. Then in late 2009/early 2010 I discovered that m/m existed as a book genre (I’d been reading/writing it in fanfic for years before that). I started writing again at that point and joined a crit group. Got my first contract from Loose Id in April 2011, and the rest is history. 🙂

You write in the m/m genre, what attracts you to this genre?– I’ve actually blogged about this a couple of times, but the short answer is: I love the dynamic between two men and I love watching them become vulnerable and falling in love. If you want to read my blog post about it for a more in-depth answer, you can find it here. (Larissa: I can recommend it!)

The books you have written are a mix of contemporary and (urban) fantasy. Do you prefer a genre?– I’ve done contemporary, historical, fantasy, and paranormal so far. Contemporary seems to be my comfort zone and most of the ideas that spring into my head take place in a contemporary setting, but I do plan to do more paranormal/UF in future. I like spreading my wings a bit and trying out new things.

As a writer, where do you find inspiration for your stories?– Everywhere. Literally. A commercial, a song, a line in another book, a conversation I have or overhear, something in a movie or a TV show, news articles. Just about anything can inspire me. 🙂

Do you travel to scope out places for your stories?
– Yes! I love to travel in general and I like visiting the places I intend to write about. I feel like there’s only so much you can do with Google. Sometimes to get the feel of a place, you have to be there yourself.

Can you tell us a bit about what your writing process looks like? Do you have any special rituals or quirks? And, what is the strangest thing to happen to you while writing?– Well…I don’t really have a set routine. I try to do most of my work while my son is at school, but my motivation doesn’t always work on a schedule and sometimes I just have to write when it strikes, whatever time that may be. But I do like to create Pinterest boards for inspirational pictures when starting a story and I often create a playlist of songs that make me think of the story or characters or that set a particular tone.

You have a number of books you have co-written (i.e. Prickly Business, Lucky Moon series, Hard Hats) How does it work to write a book together with another author and is it harder or easier than writing a book by yourself? Is there are a different approach?– There’s a different approach with every coauthor, but generally, we tend to discuss the ideas, come up with an outline, and then break it down into chapters. From there, we might choose to each write a specific character or to split it up by chapters instead. It really just depends on the story. There’ve been times it’s been harder than writing alone, and times it’s been easier. It’s always situational, you know? It doesn’t happen the same way every time, even with the same coauthor.

Time for a funny question. Tomorrow you wake up in the body of someone else. If you could choose who, who would it be and why?– Chris Evans. 😉 I have a huge crush. Plus, he seems like a great person, and I’d love to see what it feels like to be in the body of a man for a day and to talk/hang out with some of the people he knows, and to be on a movie set (years ago, I wanted to be a film director).

Are there any other authors whose work inspire you? If yes, can you share with us who and, of course, why?– Yes, definitely. I greatly admire Rhys Ford, Jordan Castillo Price, Kim Fielding, Amy Lane, Andrea Speed, Santino Hassell, and KA Mitchell. They all have very different styles, but they’re all amazing authors with distinct voices who create the sort of characters that live and breathe on the page. It’s something I always aspire to do myself.

Of all the books you have written so far, which book was the hardest for you to write?– Prickly Business. It was a combination of so many factors. First time writing mystery or paranormal, first time writing with a new coauthor, first time doing any serious world-building, and it ended up being my longest book to date and the story ran over into a second book. It was a real learning experience, that’s for sure, and I hope we lived up to the expectations of the paranormal fans out there.

Of course, you recently released the book Prickly Business with Kenzie Cade, but we are very curious to know what you are working on next!– Currently I’m working on two things. One is a group project with several other authors, but that’s kind of hush-hush at the moment. My contribution will be a contemporary novella, which will hopefully be available this coming fall. Aside from that, I’m working on a contemporary fairytale retelling with my friend, Rowan Speedwell. If we meet our deadline, that story will hopefully be available next spring.

Thanks again for having me today! If anyone wants to find me online, all of my social media accounts are linked on my website, and you can sign up for my newsletter there also, if you want to have updates delivered directly to your inbox. 🙂

About Piper

Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two-thousand-book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life… even if it’s only in a book.